Newtown, Conn School Shooting

[duckinnut]

I would actually like to see gun education classes offered at an early age. I am very glad I learned how to respect and properly use guns at a young age, and that was done through my school first, then parents.

I have been saying that for a very long time. In school today we teach kids about all the dangers of sex,drugs,alcohol and assorted other things but nothing about guns. Why is that? We have kids today living in a fantasy land devoid of reality or consequence. Once you pull that trigger there is no reset button like Xbox has. Kids don't make that connection. Then the fool politicians chime in about gun control before the dust has settled and facts come to light. You chose to drink and drive and kill somebody, do we blame the car, the alcohol? No we blame the person. So when someone does something like this we blame the gun. Why? Isn't a person behind the gun the same as being behind the wheel intoxicated?

 

[cupman]

Some of the phsychologist pundants are linking these tragedies to the entitlement culture... I'm not sure what to think about that.

Which pundits? I am pretty sure I can guess.

 

[Q9]

I do think that the past few mass shootings indicate that we should probably invest more in mental health research. I want to know if this guy was on psychoactive drugs - that factor seems to be showing up fairly often.

 

[Criskin]

I tend to be way more liberal than conservative on most issues but I try above all things to be logical. In an ideal world, a gun ban would solve our problems. No one would have guns, no one would have a use for guns and we would all live happily ever after. However, I don't think that is a valid option here in America. Bearing arms is too entrenched in our national culture. We are a stubborn, headstrong and overall resourceful people. Here, banning something just means that law abiding citizens no longer have it...otherwise we'd never hear about problems with meth, cocaine, etc. I'm not a hunter and I don't like guns, but I have one. It is kept where only I can get to it but as a young woman whose husband travels for work, I am often alone with two young children and I will protect them no matter what the cost. That is my priority in life and, I'm sure, the priority of parents everywhere.

 

[Criskin]

My state has gun safety class in elementary school. I wonder if it is just a Southern thing?

In school today we teach kids about all the dangers of sex,drugs,alcohol and assorted other things but nothing about guns.

 

[sezjasper]

I've never heard of a gun safety class in schools, certainly they don't have them here in Maryland. I'm not sure how I'd feel about it, either, if my daughter came home with a permission slip for the class.

 

[Criskin]

I hadn't heard of them before this year. I was a little taken aback...elementary school seemed way to early for that sort of thing. My husband, who grew up in the area, pointed out the several pictures of 6 and 7 year olds in the newspaper proudly posing with their first deer kill and said if people are going to let their kids hunt that young, it is best that they learn the right way to handle guns. Makes sense to me. Luckily, my son isn't interested in hunting.

I've never heard of a gun safety class in schools, certainly they don't have them here in Maryland. I'm not sure how I'd feel about it, either, if my daughter came home with a permission slip for the class.

 

[RHRanch]

Someone who is capable of this kind of shooting is probably a sociopath/psychopath. Read the literature, there is no effective treatment for them, they actually get worse with therapy. Read the what his friends and family said, he was described as "flat" and "remote", typical sociopath really, not that I am an expert; (probably someone misdiagnosed him as aspergers/autistic) because they can appear to have trouble with making connections with people. It would be easy for the flatness of sociopathy to be mistaken for a learning disability, especially when a child is being diagnosed. Older sociopaths learn how to "cover up" thier defects by acting how they think a normal person would, child sociopaths are less sophisticated.

I'm sorry folks, but to me it seems so obvious that we are talking about a person who, as his brother said: had a "personality disorder = see sociopath/narcissistic/psycopath'. A person like that will find a way to act out, whether stealing someone elses guns or stabbing 25 children in China. As long as we have no system in place to manage people who are dangerous like this (like we used to when we had institutionalization), this will keep happening.

 

[chickened]

Which pundits? I am pretty sure I can guess.

Does it matter? or is there only one opinion?

 

[duckinnut]

My state has gun safety class in elementary school. I wonder if it is just a Southern thing?

Well let me say living in Massachusetts is a less than inviting place for guns and their owners.